[Elecraft] Flumoxed

[Fred Jensen]

Remember the B&W Wide-Band Folded Dipole, often found over National 
Guard Armories, that's older than most of us?  Very broad band in the 
middle of the HF spectrum, achieved with a 200 ohm [IIRC] resistor.  
While no so good for hams, NG soldiers are not known for DX'ing and it 
worked great for them over perhaps 4 or 5 working frequencies.  The 
resistor burned half the power, and it also broadened the SWR curve 
dramatically by swamping out the changing complex impedance at the 
feedpoint.

Incidentally, B&W was completely up front about how the antenna achieved 
such a broad band response in contrast with the claims of the "miracle 
antennas" advertised in the magazines.

73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 12/5/2018 1:19 PM, N2TK, Tony wrote:
> A number of years ago, the SWR on my shunt fed tower kept getting wider and
> flatter. The feedline buried hardline with an aluminum jacket.  The soil
> here in upstate NY had eaten away the aluminum and produced a goo. When I
> disconnected all the feedlines to the tower the shield on the 160M feed
> showed a high resistance.
> The shield of the other feedlines were providing the return path. So, nice
> SWR but not a very efficient antenna.
> 73,
> N2TK, Tony
>